This invention relates generally to structural fasteners, and more particularly relates to a structural fastener having a swage collar and an internal seal to prevent leakage through a connection fastened by the structural fastener.
Structural fasteners of the type to which this invention is directed typically include a headed pin with locking grooves, and a generally cylindrical collar for the pin. The structural fastener is typically used to secure a composite assembly of workpieces, and the pin is placed in aligned apertures through the workpieces to be secured together, and the collar is placed over the locking grooves of the pin. The collar is then radially compressed into the locking grooves to affix the collar on the pin. A tool that is commonly used to compress the collar over the locking grooves of the pin is a swaging tool which pulls the pin in one direction and forces a swage anvil over the collar in the other direction to affix the collar to the pin and forcibly clinch the workpieces together. When such structural fasteners are used in applications such as the joining of parts to liquid containing tanks such as aircraft fuel tanks, it is desirable that leakage from such tanks not be allowed to occur around or through such fasteners. The present invention meets these and other needs.